Favorite quotes

[tommykleen]

With the puzzlement and confusion that inevitably comes with the public's first live exposure to the uilleann pipes, there comes some interesting quotes. Have any you wish to share?

I'll start...

-"Those are bagpipes?! But they're beautiful!"
-[angrily] "You woke me up every morning when I stayed in Edinburgh."
-"Is that a didgeridoo/hurdy-gurdy, (etc) ?"
-"Is it battery powered?"
-"So you don't have to blow into it"
-"How does the air get into the bag?"
-"I love the bagpipes (referring to Highland bagpipes).

Your turn...

[geoff wooff]

how about;

"I love music.... but I hate noise!"

"Oh look Charleen, the little leprecorny guy with the doo-del-ee-thang !" (with a Southern States drawl) a comment I heard whilst busking at the Cliffs of Moher years ago.

" Ah.... isn't that called "The Horns ?"

" Is dems de U-lay-lee-en pipes ?" (this from a Dub. born and bred).

A comment passed between two Limerick women on Holiday " See Mary, youse have to come to Clare ter hear dem Pipes".( whilst listening to two foreiners imitating Seamus Ennis... better not say who ... but they know who they are).

[meuritt]

Those are like bagpipes! from an Irishman no less

[PJ]

"Is that a bag pipe?"
"Would you like to march in our parade?" (Yes, but you'll have to provide a wheelchair and someone to push it).
"Can you play 'Amazing Grace' on that?" (Actually, I can).
"Wow, you've been playing for ages and you haven't had to blow air into the bag."

And my favourite:

"Those ain't bagpipes! They sound good."

[RLines]

Not a piping anecdote per se, but I did a gig with a group back home in Toronto about 20 years ago. We had a lovely singer, who sang unaccompanied in both Irish and English (we consciously didn't do the stereotypical Irish ballad thing). She was singing a lovely unaccompanied rendition of 'The Boys of Mullaghbawn', which is both a great song and a lovely air. I had stepped off stage during the song, and the owner of the pub (who was Irish himself) came up to me and said 'Doesn't that little girl know any Irish songs?'

Eeejit.

[Torrin Riáin]

My favorite thing I've heard was when I was playing "in-character" at a local Renaissance faire..
A woman ran up to me and excitedly asked me while gesturing to my lap "Is that a sackbutt?!"
My response was a deliberately exaggerated look of utter bewilderment while I said "Excuse me?!"

[john]

these are some things people you say to you when you're busking but which probably aren't specific to the pipes


a few old chestnuts that you hear every now and again:

how much do i have to give you to make you stop?
why don't you get a proper job?

one i only heard once:
why do you keep on playing the same tune over and over again?

however, these were all negated by a very small girl saying: 'you're very very excellent'

sometimes they'll throw a coin and ask: "where do you come from in ireland?' - and then (playfully) threaten to look for a refund when you answer

a recent one: 'you're a bit far south aren't you?' - which puzzled me but it turned out they thought they were northumbrian pipes

i also get: 'they're like bagpipes aren't they?' all the time, and also 'they're almost like irish pipes aren't they?'

i like the banter of passers by except when it's nasty, also you get the feeling some people mistakenly think they're saying something original and witty

[kathaleenypoopa]

"You sound JUST like a harmonica"

?!!!

[learnthegrip]

What's the difference between those and bagpipes?

Do you have an electric blower supplying the air?

[PCL]

About 20 years ago, in Glen Innes for its inaugural Celtic weekend, some of us, including Ian Mackenzie and Bill Hart, were enjoying some tunes and cordials in a local pub. Out in the main street the Highland pipers were marching and playing in the opening parade. When the parade was over, a few of the kilted gentlemen came into the pub. One stood watching Bill play. He asked, "What's the main difference between those pipes and ours?"

"The main difference is that our chanter can play two octaves."

Yer man looked puzzled for a moment. Then he replied, "Oh, I'm not up on all that technical musical stuff."

'Nuff said!

[uillmann]

An elderly man in front of the "Old Stone House" on M Street in Georgetown, Washington D.C. remarked, "That ain't nothin' but jazz."

[Calum]

'Nuff said!

Sigh.

On several levels.

[magroibin]

While playing at a funeral, I hear spoken over the microphone:

"We will all now follow the piper as he leads us outside."

[Hans-Joerg]

Christy O`Leary at a Boys Of The Lough - Concert:

"The main difference between Sottish bagpipes and these is that this ones are better".

[john]

i like what finbar furey said of davy spillane:

I taught him everything he knows. But I didn't teach him everything I know.